Welcome to Dead House
by Pyro Dragon 117
Summary: The Naruto cast is offered 1,000,000 bucks each. All they have to do is spend a month in a castle. But what they don't know is that the castle is the most haunted place on earth. So how long will it be before they see death looking at them? YAOI-SasuNaru
1. Scarred Heros

Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Scarred Heroes  
  
Rating: PG-13 for now, rating will go up for violent deaths  
  
Warnings: Murder, violence, death, yaoi  
  
Parings: NaruSasu  
  
Summary: The Naruto cast is offered $1,000,000 each. All the have to do is spend a month in an old Japanese Castle. Everyone agrees. But what they don't know is that the castle is the haunted, and when the evil starts making itself known, no living person has ever gotten out alive. So when things start acting funny, how long will it be before each person finds death knocking on their bedroom door?  
  
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-Sasuke's Pov-  
  
I'm alive.  
  
I'm battered, bruised, broken, bleeding, torn, a fucking mess.  
  
But I'm alive.  
  
But maybe I would rather be dead. I was already scarred for life when my parents were murdered, and now this.  
  
That place was a living hell. Literally. You think I'm exaggerating? Well let me put it this way. If I had to choose between going back there for another second and being Orochimaru's sex slave for the rest of eternity, I would be Orochimaru's sex slave without giving it a second thought. That's how bad it was.  
  
Naruto isn't much better off. In fact, he's worse. He managed to make it out alive, too. But he's still in a coma. I'm worried about him. What if he doesn't wake up? What'll I do then? I'll have no one left. I'll die. I can't deal with what just happened to me alone. Nobody could. But then again, Naruto and I are the only ones to have ever gotten out of that....place alive. That's what everyone says. And I believe them.  
  
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-Normal Pov-  
  
The doctors came in and out of the room at regular intervals to check on the patients that had come in about a week ago. They were doing everything they could to heal the two boys physically, but mentally, there was nothing they could do. Anybody that went into Dead House never came back. So discovering these two boys had been somewhat of a miracle. But they would be scarred for life.  
  
Just what was Dead House? That's what everyone that didn't live in the village asked. It can't be that bad, they all said. It's probably just a made-up story.  
  
But Dead House was far from a made-up story. It was said to be worse than hell itself. Ancient records told of the horrors within. Monsters and ghosts, ghouls and zombies. You name it, Dead House had them. It was the most haunted place in all of time and space. One scholar wrote:  
  
The place is uncontrollable even by God. Everywhere you turn there are monsters. The five graveyards give it grim touch, and their ghouls and zombies come out with inhuman strength. Yukiona{1}, Japanese snow vampires, inhabit the north forest near the mountain and water demons raid the bath house and hot springs. Oni{2} of all kinds are in the west forest, and banshees(demons with ear-shattering screams a.k.a my little sister) live in the east forest. Evil merpeople have taken over the lake and pond. Earth demons in the courtyard, waiting to grab you, and fire demons are the kitchen and boiler room. You can't sleep, because the bedrooms have Samurai ghosts ready to strike in them. The front gate possesses archer ghosts with real arrows, so you can die by their hand. Prisoner corpses litter the basement and they too can come alive. The ghosts of young students haunt the training room, and wailing woman live in the tea room. And the Dragons in the Northern Mountains will devourer 50 men in a single bite. Never go there, even if you're suicidal. It's the worst possible death to die{3}.  
  
Not exactly the happiest place on earth.  
  
But when the two boys at the hospital actually came out of there still breathing, the impossible was suddenly possible, and any doubt or worry vanished from the towns minds. If people could get out of Dead House alive, anything was possible.  
  
Everyday, people whispered in the streets, there hearts now full with hope for the world. But they were worried about the boys. A party of twenty-five went in there, and only two came out. The loss of that many people would already be hard, and then to see them go in ways that weren't imaginable. They would probably go insane with grief. But all the same, they were heroes.  
  
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{1} I saw Yukiona on the former PBS show "Myth Quest". Very good show. But alas, they cancelled it. (like Homer Simpson) Lousy people! {2} Japanese demons {3} I'm sorry if anybody was confused by this, but I deliberately made it that way. You'll find out more about the demons and spirits as we get further into the story. 


	2. Proposition

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Forgot to put it in the last chapter, sorry  
  
Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Proposition  
  
Rating: PG-13 for now, rating will go up due to bloody and violent deaths  
  
Warnings: none for now  
  
Pairings: NaruSasu  
  
Chapter Summary: Two people appear and make a proposition to Team Seven. Also, something's happening with Sasuke, and he's beginning to see things that normal people can't...  
  
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-Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke wasn't sleeping. He had slept all day and now he was wide awake. His eyes scanned the room for any signs of unusual happenings. 'There's nothing here. This isn't that place.' Sasuke tried to convince himself, but he had turned paranoid. There was no way he was letting his guard down. He would sleep by day when he was safe, and keep alert at night.  
  
The raven-haired boy's eyes traveled over to where Naruto lie. He frowned. Naruto hadn't moved at all. It was odd, not seeing the hyper boy running around trying to convince the doctors that he was perfectly fine, like he had done on so many other occasions. 'You'd better not die, Naruto.' Sasuke thought without really understanding why he had said that. Yes, he would be sad if that happened, but what happens is something one cannot change. Yet...  
  
Sasuke had felt the heat rush to his face as he looked at Naruto. His eyes widened. He hadn't blushed in a long time. Well, there had been that one time about two weeks ago when he had been staring at Naruto and Itachi had come over and asked him if he wanted some tips for fucking people...Sasuke shook his head. No, that had happened at...that place. What did the towns people call it? Dead House? Well, at least the name was good. That was the only thing good about that place.  
  
Sasuke shivered and snuggled into the blanket. 'Stop thinking about it, Sasuke. You're going to drive yourself crazy.' He frowned. 'Actually you're probably gonna be crazy now anyways.' Sasuke groaned and was about to grab the clock on his bedside table and start banging his head on it when he heard something.  
  
"Help me..."  
  
Sasuke blinked. "Naruto?" he asked softly. He looked over to the blonde shinobi's bed. Naruto was still asleep. Sasuke frowned. 'Must have been my imagination.' he thought.  
  
"Help me..."  
  
Sasuke whipped his head around. 'I know I heard something that time.' His eyes scanned the room cautiously, his right hand absentmindedly going for a non-existent kunai.  
  
"By the window..."  
  
Sasuke turned his head to look at the window.  
  
There, sitting on the sill, was Sakura. But... Sakura was...dead.  
  
The girl was completely transparent. Her pink hair was burnt and littered with wood chippings, her skin had numerous burns and slashes on it, and her entire body was drenched in blood. One eye was missing.  
  
"Help me, Sasuke-kun..." she whispered.  
  
Sasuke stared in shock before letting out a blood curtailing scream.  
  
"AAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!"  
  
----------  
  
Sasuke groaned as his eyes opened. What was with all the noise?  
  
"Is he alright?"  
  
"He fainted for no apparent reason!"  
  
"Wake him up! He's had a concussion! He can't fall asleep for more than a couple hours at a time!"  
  
Sasuke yelled into the noise, "I'm already awake!"  
  
The doctors and nurses in the room stopped abruptly. The main doctor sighed in relief.  
  
"Uchiha-san, you're alright," she said.  
  
"Yes, I'm alright." Sasuke said. "What happened?"  
  
"You fainted," a nurse said. "We're not sure what caused it. We heard you scream and when we got to the room you were falling of the bed," she added.  
  
Sasuke frowned and closed his eyes. Vivid memories of what he saw last night came flooding back to him.  
  
The others in the room watched silently as the color drained from Sasuke's face.  
  
"Uchiha-san?" someone whispered.  
  
Sasuke opened his eyes. "I'm fine," he said. The doctors nodded and began to leave.  
  
Sasuke groaned as he fell back onto the pillows. He closed his eyes again and cursed. 'Why did I ever agree to go there?!'. His mind soon became flooded with memories of the day this all started.  
  
----------  
  
-Flashback-  
  
"Kakashi-sensei's late again!"  
  
The familiar voice of Haruno Sakura rang out through the fall air. Sasuke didn't see why she was making such a fuss. Kakashi-sensei was always late. It was a fact of life.  
  
"He's always late, why are you making such a fuss?"  
  
Ok, that was something you didn't hear everyday. Especially coming from the dobe's mouth. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at him. Naruto blinked.  
  
"What?" he said innocently.  
  
Sasuke smirked. "Didn't think I'd ever hear an intelligent coming from you, dobe," he said. Naruto growled.  
  
"Sasuke, I'll kill you!" He made a start for Sasuke, but was stopped by Sakura.  
  
"Don't touch Sasuke-kun, you jerk!"  
  
"Sa-Sakura-chan..." Naruto said meekly. Sasuke sighed.  
  
"Let him come, Sakura," he said.  
  
Both of his teammates stared at him.  
  
"But, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura tried to protest, but Sasuke stopped her.  
  
"Maybe if he gets beaten badly enough, he'll stop doing this so often," Sasuke said smugly, just to piss Naruto off even more. He was so cute when he was mad. Sasuke blinked.  
  
'I did not just think that. I did not just say Naruto was cute when he's angry.' he thought desperately.  
  
"Sasuke-kun, look out!"  
  
Sasuke's head shot up just in time to see Naruto coming for a punch. Sasuke smirked and side-stepped easily. "You'll have to bee faster if you want to catch me, dobe," he called.  
  
"I'll get you Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A team of Naruto's appeared and all went directly toward Sasuke. Sasuke smirked. 'You underestimate me, Naruto. I know that all of those are clones and the real one is coming from somewhere else. Now, whe-' Sasuke stopped abruptly as he caught sight of something that you didn't typically see everyday.  
  
A man in a pinstripe suit was walking toward, a huge grin on his face. He was short and very fat. Another man, this one tall and like a twig, was walking behind him, a clipboard in one arm.  
  
"Hello, hello, hello!" the fat man said. "How are you today, you fine youngsters?"  
  
Sasuke glared at him. "What do you want?"  
  
The tall man smiled. "We're here to make a proposition," he said. The fat man hit him.  
  
"I told you not to talk!" he yelled. Then he turned back to Team Seven. "We're here to make a proposition."  
  
Naruto (who had gotten rid of his clones and stopped fighting) blinked.  
  
"Proposition? What's that?" he asked.  
  
Everyone sweatdropped.  
  
"You don't even know what a proposition is?!" yelled Sakura. "That's pathetic!"  
  
Naruto blushed with embarrassment.  
  
"A proposition is an offer," said the thin man. "And this is defiantly a proposition you won't want to pass up!"  
  
"I told you to shut up!" The fat man said.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Whatever. Now, fine youngsters, may I have your names?" the fat man asked.  
  
"Uzumaki Naruto."  
  
"Haruno Sakura."  
  
"Uchiha Sasuke."  
  
The fat man smiled. "Thank you very much," he said. Then he began walking away.  
  
"Hey, wait! What about the proposition?" Sakura called.  
  
The man spoke.  
  
"If you wish to hear it, then come to the Hokage's tower at 12:00 noon tomorrow," he said. Then he too, turned and left.  
  
The three teammates looked at each other.  
  
"Do you think we should go?" Sakura asked.  
  
Sasuke thought for a moment. "We'll go, but we'll come armed. For all we know this could be a trap set up by anther village. We should be careful."  
  
"And we'll have to make up some excuse to Kakashi-sensei about why we need to go," Sakura said.  
  
"Kakashi-sensei won't even be here until 1:00. We can go there and be back in no time," Naruto said. "And even if we don't, we'll just tell him that we're sick of waiting for him for so long, so until he can start coming on time, we're going to do whatever we want until 1:30, because he's not going to come sooner than 1:00." Naruto noticed both teammates staring at him. "What?"  
  
"That's two smart things you've said in one day. Naruto, are you sick?" Sakura said.  
  
Naruto blew up like a volcano.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN "SMART THINGS"? JUST BECAUSE I TOOK THREE YEARS TO FINIFSH THE ACEDEMY DOESN'T MEAN THAT I'M STUPID!" he yelled.  
  
"Yes, it does," Sasuke muttered.  
  
"TEME! SASUKE, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
However, Naruto never did get around to killing Sasuke, because at that moment, A puff of smoke appeared and the familiar voice of Hatake Kakashi said, "Ohayo, minna-san!"  
  
"You're late!" Sakura said.  
  
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I ran out of coffee this morning..."  
  
"Liar!"  
  
Naruto was grumbling something about "I'll kill you later, bastard" and one could assume that the statement was directed toward Sasuke. Sasuke smirked.  
  
"The day that happens is the day you stop loving ramen," he said.  
  
Team Seven never did get any missions done that day. After all, how could you when two of your team members are going at each other with killer intent?  
  
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	3. Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! The world is cruel...T.T  
  
Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Meeting  
  
Rating: PG-13 for now, rating will go up for violence, gore, blood, death  
  
Pairings: SasuNaru  
  
Warnings: None  
  
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-Sasuke's Pov-  
  
I'm scared. I think I'm going insane. That's understandable, of course, seeing as to what I went through. But this is really weird. Every time I close my eyes, I hear voices. But there's nobody there. Worse yet, there are some voices I know. Voices that I have permanently locked into my memory. Voices of my friends, my family.  
  
I don't like it. I can't get the image of Sakura out of my head. She looked so sad, yet damn terrifying. I wonder why I saw her. I know that it was a hallucination, but at the same, time, I don't think it was. I don't know what I saw. All I know is that I don't want to see it again.  
  
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-Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke lie on the bed, eyes open, lost in thought about the voices. He didn't want to hear them. They said things, things he didn't want or need to know.  
  
The Uchiha yawned. God, he was tired. But he couldn't go to sleep. The voices would come. They would come, and he didn't want them to come. But he was so sleepy...  
  
Maybe just a quick nap...  
  
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-Sasuke's Pov-  
  
"Help me..."  
  
"My child!"  
  
"You can hear us! Save us!"  
  
Oh god, the voices! No, go away. I don't want to hear you! Go away...  
  
"Sasuke, look at me."  
  
'That's Kakashi's voice...' I thought. 'But he's dead. I know he is.' There was no point in opening my eyes to look at someone who wouldn't be there. But if I didn't open his eyes, the voices would continue. I didn't want the voices to continue. So I opened my eyes.  
  
And I screamed.  
  
Kakashi was at the end of my bed, but he had gaping holes all throughout his body. And he was covered in blood. Just like that night, when he died...  
  
"Sasuke, help me..." he said.  
  
I just stared. Then I started screaming again. He came over and he touched my face.  
  
I screamed bloody murder. I heard frantic yelling coming from the halls, but I didn't care. I just kept screaming.  
  
But the voices came again. God, there were so many! And Kakashi was talking to me...  
  
It was too much. I couldn't help it. I blacked out.  
  
But something was coming into my mind. A dream. But not a bad dream. It was a dream about the genin. We were in the Hokage's tower. No, this wasn't a dream. It was a memory.  
  
----------  
  
-Flashback-  
  
Naruto had been right. Kakashi didn't show up any earlier than usual the following day. At 11:30, Team Seven began making their way to the Hokage Tower.  
  
"What do think the proposition is about?" Sakura asked.  
  
Sasuke shrugged. "Could be anything. They didn't look like they wanted a special mission done, and they could have just asked for that anyway."  
  
Naruto just nodded his head.  
  
It didn't take the three long to get to the Hokage Tower. However, when they opened the door, they were surprised at what they saw.  
  
The rest of the genin (and Shikamaru, even though he was a chuunin) were all standing in the front hall, obviously waiting for someone. Rock Lee was the first to notice the new comers.  
  
"Ohayo, Sakura-san!" he called enthusiastically. Sakura gave him a small smile, but did not walk over to him.  
  
Team Seven walked inside the tower, confused. What were the other genin doing here? They had thought that they were the only ones that would be here, except for maybe a few Anbu or jounin.  
  
"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked.  
  
"We're here to listen to a proposition," Kiba answered, irritably. "Isn't that what you're here for, baka?"  
  
Naruto fumed, but did not say anything.  
  
"Yes, we're here for the proposition," Sakura said. "But we thought that we would be the only ones here."  
  
"Yeah. We were surprised when Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru showed up," said Tenten. "We were the first team here, so we also didn't think anyone else was coming."  
  
There was a few moments silence as the genin just looked at one another.  
  
"So, what do you think the proposition is about?" asked Chouji. But he did not receive an answer, for at that moment, the fat and thin man walked through the door. They were smiling, but they did not look pleasant. It sent shivers up the genins spines.  
  
"Hello, hello, hello!" the fat man said. "I do hope you haven't been waiting long."  
  
The genins shook their heads.  
  
"Well, that's good. Now, I'm sure all of you are wondering why we didn't tell you that your teams weren't going to be the only people here," said the thin man.  
  
The genins nodded.  
  
"Well, we were originally going to only ask one team to listen to this proposition," said the fat man. "But then we decided that that wouldn't be fair, so we asked everyone to come! And it just slipped our mind to tell you that others were coming."  
  
The genins exchanged skeptical glances. The thin man must've noticed this, because he said, "Well, let's go then." And he started leading the genins toward one of the meeting rooms.  
  
As soon as everyone was seated, the fat man began to talk.  
  
"Now, I must tell you that you have to listen to the whole proposition before you make any decisions. You are not to leave at any time, so if you need to go to the bathroom, go now." He paused to see if anyone did. "No? Alright then, let's get started!"  
  
The thin man flicked off the lights and started a slide projector up. A picture of a castle came onto the screen next to the fat man.  
  
"This," he began, "is the Ishiyama Castle. It resides in Japan, near the Kii Mountains. No one has been there for hundreds of years. It's about 10 miles from a small city called Aoki (A/N: I own the idea for the city and the castle). Our proposition is asking you to stay there for one month."  
  
"Why should we stay in some old rotting castle for a month?" Shikamaru asked, annoyed. "It's too troublesome." There were some murmurs of agreement from other people.  
  
"Please let me finish," said the fat man. "This castle has been known to have some supernatural activity around it. But it's also a great attraction for tourists. They people who currently own the castle, our organization, need some people to stay there for a while to see if it's safe."  
  
"Forget it. Get someone else," Kiba said. He started to stand up.  
  
"Please sit down and let me finish," said the fat man.  
  
"Why? I'm not going to spend a month in some dingy old castle just to see if it's okay for tourists!" Kiba snapped. He began walking toward the door.  
  
"Would you do it for one million dollars, Inuzuka-san?" said the fat man.  
  
Everyone in the room froze and stared at the fat man. Kiba stared at him, eyes wide as saucers. Surly this man must be kidding!  
  
"O-one million dollars?" Kiba repeated, not daring to believe it. "As in, U.S. dollars?"  
  
The fat man smiled. "Yes, one million U.S. dollars," he said.  
  
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Author's Notes: Gah! This chapter took so long to put up! Why? Because the stupid formatting on FN.N didn't work! The story got clumped together and so I had to separate it into two chapters. Chapter four should be up sometime today... 


	4. Waking Up

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto... BUT I WILL! AND THERE WILL BE PLENTLY OF SASUNARU FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!  
  
Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Waking Up  
  
Rating: PG-13, will go up later for death, blood, gore, etc.  
  
Pairings: Sasuke/Naruto  
  
Warnings: None  
  
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Ok, something really wired has been going on with formatting, and I can't seem to get the clump of words fixed. I'm trying one more time, so if the formatting here sucks, then please excuse me. IT NOT MY FAULT!!!! Please don't kill me...  
  
----------  
  
Kiba sat back down still staring. Everyone's attention in listening to this man had gone up about 50 miles. Even Shikamaru was listening with rapt attention.  
  
"Now, as I was saying, our company needs to see if this place is able to inhabit humans. We are willing to pay one million U.S. dollars to the people that go there to take a look."  
  
"One million for the whole group," breathed Shikamaru. "So we'd each get $83,333 dollars."  
  
"Damn, that's a lot of money. Why so much?" Naruto asked.  
  
"Are you familiar with the organization Akatsuki?" the thin man asked.  
  
Most of the people in the room shook their heads. Naruto, on the other hand, froze and his eyes went wide. Sasuke yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU MEAN WE'RE GOING TO BE STAYING WITH THE AKATSUKI FOR A MONTH?!" (A/N: I know that it never directly says anything about Sasuke knowing about the Akatsuki in the manga or anime, so we're just going to pretend that Sasuke made Kakashi tell him, ok?)  
  
"It'll only be one of them," said the fat man. Sasuke relaxed a bit. Then he frowned.  
  
"Which one?" he asked.  
  
"Uchiha Itachi."  
  
Sasuke blanched. $83,333 was not enough to risk his life and/or sanity for.  
  
"Forget it," he said. "I'm not spending a minute, let alone a month, with that person. Not even for $83,333."  
  
The fat man blinked. "$83,333? I'm afraid you're confused my boy," he said.  
  
"No, you're confused. You said you'd pay us one million, right? Well, divide that by twelve and that's $83,333," Sasuke said.  
  
The fat man smiled again. "Yes, I said we'd pay you one million. What I meant was one million each."  
  
Sasuke froze, as did everyone else. One million each? That was crazy! Did the company even have that much to give away?  
  
"One...million...each?" Sasuke said slowly.  
  
The fat man nodded. "One million each."  
  
Sasuke thought. One million dollars would support him for life. He could probably hire all of Konoha to go kill Itachi for him, and still live into retirement. Then again, there was no guarantee that Itachi wouldn't kill him whole they were together, and even if he didn't he would probably drive Sasuke insane. Was one million dollars really worth his sanity?  
  
The fat man seemed to notice Sasuke debating. "If you're worried that he's going to kill you or drive you insane, I can assure he won't. I have his name on a contract saying that he will not kill anyone while he is at the castle. Or drive them insane."  
  
Sasuke looked skeptical. "Show me the contract, and then I'll believe you. Maybe."  
  
The thin man reached into his briefcase and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Sasuke. Sasuke scanned over the paper. It stated that the people who signed this contract were to inflict no physical, mental or emotional harm upon the people that would be staying with them in Ishiyama castle for the month, and if they did, then they wouldn't get the million dollars. That was good. He looked at the signature at the bottom of the paper.  
  
Sasuke knew the signature instantly. Yes, this was his brother's signature. Sasuke relaxed a little. Ok, one million was worth staying in an old castle with Itachi for a month, seeing as he could do him no harm. He handed the contract back to the thin man and sat down.  
  
"Now, seeing as you are all children, and I doubt that the world's strongest missing nin is going to look after you, we are going to send along some chaperones as well," the fat man said.  
  
"What kind of chaperones?" asked Neji.  
  
"Your sensei's, the Godaime and Jiraiya," the thin man said.  
  
Sasuke let out a small sigh of relief. Itachi wouldn't have been able to do anything to him anyway. Maybe. The Uchiha sat back down.  
  
"So, now that you know all of what is going on, we have a sheet that you need to sign," said the fat man. "Your sensei's, the Godaime and Jiraiya have already seen this presentation, so they were informed that you wouldn't bee attending mission's today. They have already signed the sheet, as has Itachi. It is simple a contract that stats you are going of your own free will to Ishiyama castle, that we are not responsible for any injury that you may gain while there and when the month is over you will get one million dollars, if you are still alive. Which, I do not doubt, you will be. Just sign at the bottom, we have a pen to pass around."  
  
The thin man took another sheet of paper out of his briefcase along with a pen. He gave it to Chouji, who signed it then passed it to the next person. There was no surprise that no one had any hesitation to sign the contract as it was passed from one person to the next.  
  
When the last person (Sakura) had signed the contract, she gave it back to the thin man, who put it back in his briefcase.  
  
The rest of the meeting consisted of slides showing the rooms, grounds, and surrounding landscape of Ishiyama castle. It was quite large, even by a castle's standards. It had enough bedrooms to fit all of the people who had agreed to go, a large kitchen, dining room to fit 50 people at least, two area's that could be dubbed as lounge and a third that had been made into a living/T.V. room. There was also an attic, basement, tea room, dungeon and boiler room. Out on the grounds there were a bathing quarters, outhouse and dojo with a training area. There were four major courtyards, on each side of the castle. The was a small lake at the edge of the west courtyard that was mostly surrounded by Sakura trees. There was also a pond in the south courtyard. The castle and gate were surrounded by a forest, and there was a door in the gate that led to that forest and the mountains. Possibly the nicest feature was the hot springs that lay only about a two minute walk from the castle. The only bad thing was that there were five graveyards scattered about the grounds that gave the areas they were in a slightly grim touch. Other that that everything was fine and no one could wait until the set off for the month.  
  
----------  
  
-Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke groaned as he felt himself regain consciousness. His head was throbbing. He struggled to remember why he had fainted. Images of Kakashi and echo's of his voice filled the Uchiha's find.  
  
Sasuke shivered and closed his eyes again. 'First Sakura, then Kakashi. What's wrong with me?' He wondered. Al least now he knew that Sakura's image had not been a hallucination. He had distinctly felt Kakashi's hand on his skin. He shivered again. Kakashi's hand had been like ice, and it had been rotting.  
  
The ebony eyed boy opened his eyes and looked around. Several more I.V. tubes had been put into his arms. He swore. He hated I.V. tubes.  
  
Sasuke looked out the window to gaze at the moon. It was half full waxing, covered by clouds in some places. Sasuke sighed. There would be no star gazing tonight. That was something he often did to pass the time, as he still hadn't regained full use of his arms, so he couldn't read and he didn't like to watch T.V.  
  
Thinking of nothing else to do, Sasuke let his gaze drift over to the other person that was in the room.  
  
Naruto was lying in the bed next to him, still in a coma. When they had first come here, the doctors had tried to separate the two boys, insisting that it would be better for both if they were separated. But Sasuke had refused to let go of Naruto. For some reason, he wanted to be there when the blonde woke up. He wanted to see those blue eyes again, those beautiful eyes that danced with laughter and happiness.  
  
Sasuke blinked. 'What the hell am I thinking?!' He was about to mentally hit himself for thinking like that when...  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! SASUKE!!!"  
  
Sasuke shot bolt upright and started. Naruto eyes snapped open and he too shot upright before falling back, panting heavily and gasping.  
  
Sasuke went onto autopilot. He didn't even realize that he was getting out of bed when he wasn't supposed to use his legs. He didn't feel the I.V. tubes ripping out of his arms, or the commotion outside of doctors. All the knew was one thing: Get to Naruto.  
  
For someone whose leg was broken and ankle sprained, Sasuke still was quick. He came to the edge of Naruto's bed and put is hands on either side of the blonde's head. Naruto looked at him.  
  
"S-Sasuke?" he said.  
  
Sasuke smiled. "Hai," he whispered.  
  
Naruto sat there stunned for a second. Then, without warning, he pulled Sasuke into a tight embrace and sobbed into his shoulder. Sasuke wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's back and just held him. He heard Naruto whisper against his shoulder...  
  
"I'm not the only one alive. Oh god, I'm not the only one. Thank you Sasuke. Thank you..."  
  
Sasuke rested his chin on Naruto's head and said a silent prayer to whoever was listening:  
  
Thank you for keeping Naruto alive for me.  
  
----------  
  
Pyro: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! FLUFF! SASUNARU ACTION! Kinda  
  
Naruto and Sasuke: (still hugging)  
  
Sasuke fan girls: DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE NARUTO!!  
  
Pyro: YOU DIE! (pulls out a flamethrower) MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  
  
Fangirls: EEEE-(die) X.X  
  
Pyro: :-J 


	5. Itachi's Suspicion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... BUT I DO OWN SOMETHING FROM THE FICCY! ISHIYAMA CASTLE AND THE TOWN AKIO AND ITS PEOPLE!!!!  
  
Inner Pyro: HELL YAH!!! TAKE THAT YA STUPID LAWYERS!!!!  
  
Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Itachi's Suspicion  
  
Rating: PG-13, rating will go up later for violence, death, blood, gore, etc.  
  
Pairing: SasuNaru  
  
Warnings: None, for this chapter  
  
----------  
  
-Normal Pov-  
  
The doctors had been absolutely furious when they came into the room and saw Sasuke on Naruto's bed. That is, after they had gotten over they relief that Naruto was alright. They had been yelling at Sasuke for the next half hour about how walking could damage his legs forever, and that he was already in bad enough shape as it was.  
  
Sasuke was not one to show his emotions easily. But the doctors were really starting to piss him off. His eye kept twitching and he was sure that any moment now a blood vessel was going to snap. So he decided to try and solve this in a calm and sensible fashion.  
  
"Um, Dr. Makoto?"  
  
A male doctor looked at Sasuke. "Hai, Uchiha-san?" he asked.  
  
"I'm feeling a bit tired... And all this noise will prevent me from sleeping..." Sasuke hoped that would work.  
  
Dr. Makoto nodded. "Minna-san," he called over the noise. "Uchiha-san wants to sleep! We all need to leave so he can recover."  
  
There was a murmur of agreement and the doctors and nurses began filing out one by one. A few were still grumbling about Sasuke, but no further fuss was made.  
  
When they had all left, Sasuke looked over at Naruto. He was sleeping now, and he looked like an angel-  
  
Sasuke blinked. Did he just say that Naruto looked like an angel? That's not what he meant! But Naruto did look kind of cute, in the sense that an elder would think a baby curled up was cute. Yeah, that was it....  
  
Sasuke shook his head and he drifted off to sleep.  
  
----------  
  
-Dream-  
  
Sasuke blinked and looked around him. He was in a dark room. With a bed, desk, dresser and end table. There were two doors, one leading to a bathroom and the other leading to what was probably the rest of the house. He blinked again, and gasped. The room had changed. Instead of just seeing the dim outline of figures he could now see what they looked like exactly and he could also see what the floor and walls looked like. The furniture was all oak, painted black. The dresser had five drawers, all with a kanji symbol on them. They were death, blood, katana, trick, and shinobi. Sasuke wondered who the dresser belonged to, to have those symbols on it. The desk was a regular office desk, with drawers and a space for a chair, which he could now see. The chair was black like the rest of the furniture with dark red cushions on the seat and back. The end table was the kind with a drawer on top and a space on the bottom for something like books or magazines. The bed was just a regular futon, with dark red sheets that had black boarders.  
  
The walls were black, and the floor was dark stained oak, with a dark red rug. Whoever had this room was very into black and red.  
  
Sasuke blinked again. Now there were objects around the room that were visible. There were books in the end table, which also held a digital clock. On the other side of the bed there was a floor lamp. The desk had various papers scattered across it, along with a... laptop? Sasuke wondered where he was to have a modern appliance such as that one. He had only known that laptops even existed recently.  
  
The dresser was home to several hair bands, a brush, a C.D. player and several C.D.'s. Sasuke couldn't see what they were. It also had an incense burner and a few candles on it. Now that he thought about it, Sasuke noticed that there were candles, incense burners and scented oil burners all around the room. There were shelf's on the walls that housed the candles. They were all scented, Sasuke noted. He blinked again, and yelled.  
  
His brother was sitting at the desk, working on the laptop.  
  
But his brother was dead! Sasuke had seen him die with everyone else in that house of the dammed! He had heard his brother screaming, he knew how he had died! His body, the flames, the skeletons that jumped out from them, screaming when they found they couldn't reach him and Naruto...  
  
Sasuke felt like vomiting. Why did his mind create such images to haunt him? He never wanted to remember that once his brother, his friends, his teachers, had been happy, living normal lives that were not to be damned, That they would have all dies deaths that they expected... Not like the ones they did... Not like that...  
  
Sasuke wanted to sob. Why? Why did God torment him?  
  
There was creak behind him. Sasuke spun around to face the shark man he had seen with his brother when he had attacked him to get to Naruto. If Sasuke had to guess, this was the Akatsuki head quarters, and this was where his brother lived. He wanted to ask the shark man what was going on, but the Akatsuki member walked right through him.  
  
Sasuke stood there, stunned. Then he summed it up. His brother was dead, and he had never seen this place before, and the shark man had walked right through him... So either this was hell or a dream. The latter made more sense. But from the looks of things, it was a memory of Itachi's, one that had somehow found it's way into his mind. A bit more relaxed now, Sasuke decided to survey the scene before him.  
  
"Itachi-san." The shark man said. Itachi did not look up from his work but made a small noise of acknowledgment.  
  
"There are some men downstairs that wish to see you," the shark man said.  
  
Without looking up, Itachi said, "Send them up, Kisame."  
  
Kisame nodded and left. A few minutes later he returned with the same men that had offered the genins there proposition.  
  
"Konichiwa, Uchiha-sama," said the fat man in a falsely polite voice.  
  
"State your business and leave," Itachi said coldly without looking up from the laptop.  
  
Sasuke smiled with satisfaction as the fat man flinched. "Now, now, Uchiha- sama, we're not here for just any old mission-"  
  
"Then leave. I have no interest in you if you're not here on business standards," the older Uchiha said. He had not looked up even once.  
  
Sasuke saw the fat man growing frustrated. He could not help but feel a sense of pride for his elder brother.  
  
"Onegai, Uchiha-sama. Hear us out," said the tall man nervously. "You may regret it if you don't."  
  
Itachi sighed. "Fine. What do you want with me? And make it quick."  
  
The fat man nodded. "But of course. We have a proposition to make. We are going to try and open-"  
  
"Get to the point already," the Uchiha snapped. The sense if pride fro his brother welled up inside Sasuke like a balloon. He smiled at him brother, even though he knew Itachi could not see him.  
  
"We would like you to stay in and old castle for a month so we can make sure it is all right for tourists," the tall man said.  
  
"Am I to receive pay?" Itachi asked, making it clear that if he didn't he would not do this.  
  
"Yes. One million U.S. dollars," said the fat man.  
  
Sasuke noticed that Itachi's eyes narrowed. The Uchiha still was working on the computer.  
  
"Why so much?" he asked.  
  
"A month is a long time, and we're not entirely sure that the castle is 100 percent safe. So we decided to up the pay," the tall man said.  
  
Sasuke could tell that his brother didn't buy it. "And I take it I have to sign a contract," he stated.  
  
"Yes," the fat man said. "He opened his suitcase and pulled out the contract, then handed it to Itachi.  
  
Itachi took it and read through it. He sighed. "Fine, I'll do it," he said.  
  
The fat man smiled. "Very good. Here's pen." He pulled a pen out of his pocket. Itachi took it and signed. Then he handed the pen back to the fat man.  
  
"Now get out," he said coolly.  
  
The fat man shivered. He and his partner made there way towards the door.  
  
"Oh, and just to let you know, pinstripe suits and blubber don't go well together," Itachi said with a smirk.  
  
Sasuke laughed as the fat man turned scarlet. "I'll make a note of that," he said and left.  
  
Itachi returned his attention back to the computer. "Ishiyama castle," he muttered under his breath. He clicked on the internet browser and pulled up google.com, and typed in the castle name. A few sites came up. Itachi clicked on the first.  
  
Sasuke watched as for the next 45 minutes his brother read up on Ishiyama castle. When he had finished, Itachi leaned back in his chair. "Not 100 percent safe, my ass. Sounds like a fucking death trap to me," he said with a frown.  
  
Sasuke caught the sound of someone yelling, "Oi! Uchiha! Dinner's ready!"  
  
Itachi closed the web browser and went out of his room.  
  
And Sasuke woke up.  
  
----------  
  
-Hospital Room, next night, Naruto's Pov-  
  
I sat in silence as a nurse presented me with food. I've never been one to trust hospital food. I've had bad luck with it the past. But this stuff looked okay. I picked a fork and put some into my mouth. Scratch ok, this stuff was great! Almost as good as ramen! Bu then again, nothing's as good as ramen!  
  
You and your ramen.  
  
Huh? Who said that? I looked over at Sasuke, who was reading a book. I still remember hugging him last night. I'm not really used to hugs, and that one was really nice. Sasuke was warm... AAAA!!! I DID NOT JUST THINK THAT!!! SASUKE IS NOT WARM!!!  
  
You can't deny it.  
  
Hey! Someone talked to me again! Who the hell is doing that?! Am I saying this stuff out loud and not knowing it?  
  
I looked over at Sasuke again. He's still reading. I don't think that he would have said those thing so who...  
  
Hey, did it just get colder in here?  
  
Yeah, it's getting colder... Wait, now I'm warming up. Like there's a fire inside my body. But there's something wrong... I made a move to get up...  
  
Stay here.  
  
ALRIGHT WHO THE HELL IS SAYING THAT- Sasuke?  
  
I notice that Sasuke has gone all ridged. He slowly turned his head to his left, which was away from me...  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"  
  
Oh my fucking god, Sasuke! He screamed and now he's scrambling and he's fainted and he's dropping. Out of instinct I tried to go over to him, but...  
  
Stay here, Naruto!  
  
What? Who's saying that? I blinked and all the sudden I saw the Kyuubi in front of me, with glowing red eyes and screamed in fury...  
  
I screamed and black out.  
  
----------  
  
-Same scene, but with Sasuke's Pov-  
  
I was reading while Naruto ate, when I noticed the room getting colder. I was about to call a nurse the close the window, when I realized it wasn't open. And then I heard it...  
  
"Sasuke..."  
  
There was a bark.  
  
I froze. Don't look, I thought, but my body didn't listen. Slowly my head turned toward my left.  
  
There was Kiba and Akamaru, standing next to me, with arrow sticking all out of them like they were pin cushions. They're eyes were bleeding because they had arrows in them, blood was all over them, it reeked.  
  
I screamed and fainted.  
  
----------  
  
-Dream, Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke looked around him. He was back in Itachi's room. The Uchiha was packing stuff into a bag. Many of the candles, incense and oil burners were lit. Sasuke noticed that Itachi looked like he was going to have a blood vessel break any second now...  
  
"Itachi-san!"  
  
"What?!" he snapped as his head turned to the doorway. Kisame was there.  
  
"Please can I come with you?! I want to have one million U.S. dollars!" Kisame pleaded.  
  
"Kisame, I told you NO! The contract said I was the only one coming!"  
  
"So sneak me with you!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Please?!"  
  
"No!  
  
There was a hustle outside Itachi's door as other Akatsuki members showed up. Sasuke could figure out that Itachi had all these candles and such lighted to relive stress.  
  
"Itachi, I wanna go!"  
  
"No me! I want all that money!"  
  
"Itachi, buddy, let me go!"  
  
"Itachi-san, I'm your partner! How can you say no!?"  
  
Itachi snapped. In the blink of an eye he had taken Kisame and thrown him into all the other members. His eyes flashed with murdering passion.  
  
"Listen up you fuckers," he said. "I cannot take anyone with me, and I don't want to take anyone with me. The proposition was offered to me. So all of you fuck off right now, or I'll fucking kill you. And I promise, it WILL hurt." There was danger radiating from him like nothing Sasuke had felt before. It was almost scary.  
  
The Akatsuki members nodded. Itachi stalked off down the stairs. He opened the front door...  
  
And came face to face with Orochimaru.  
  
"Hello, Itachi-kun. I heard that you're going to get one million dollars..."  
  
Itachi's eye twitched.  
  
Five minutes later, there was a bloody heap on the ground that had once been know as the Sennin Orochimaru. Sasuke actually had to close his eyes for part of the beating Itachi had given Orochimaru. The older Uchiha had stalked off in a very bad temper, and heaven help anyone that was to disturb him on his trip to Ishiyama castle right now.  
  
---------  
  
-Hospital-  
  
Sasuke groggily opened his eyes. There were some nurses and doctors in the room that were tending to him and... Naruto? Oh crap, was Naruto alright? Sasuke didn't realize he had voiced this out loud.  
  
"He'll be fine," a nurse said with a smile. "You should get some rest Sasuke. That's probably why you're fainting so much. Hallucinations and rest lack. Sleep," she said.  
  
Sasuke closed his eyes. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he realized that Itachi had signed the contract with his left hand. And Itachi was right handed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
Pyro: I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FASTER!!!!! BUT I GOT A WRITER'S BLOCK ON THIS FIC!!!! Damn, those evil plot bunnies... THEY AMBUSH ME AND THEN ABANDON ME!!!! DAMN YOU, PLOT BUNNIES!!! DIE!!! (Pulls out a bazooka and starts shooting them down)  
  
Sasuke: O.O  
  
Naruto: Freak... 


	6. Reluctence

Disclaimer: I OWN THE CASTLE AND THE TOWN!!!! NEENER NEENER NEENER!!!  
  
Title: Welcome to Dead House  
  
Chapter Title: Reluctance  
  
Rating: PG-13, rating may go up  
  
Pairing: SasuNaru  
  
Warnings: None  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
-Hospital, Sunrise, Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke had just woken up and decided to watch the sunrise. He was still very shaken after last night's fiasco. Why did he keep seeing these images? Were the hallucinations? He didn't think so. True, that... place had left him scarred for life, but he didn't think he was insane... yet.  
  
Sasuke looked at the coming sun. With such a small town, there was no pollution or tall buildings to obscure the few. It was beautiful. It reminded Sasuke of a morning when he and Naruto had woken up at the training grounds because they had been sparring late into the night. Naruto had been curled up against him. He had looked so cute...  
  
Gah! Why did he keep think Naruto was cute?!  
  
Sasuke returned his attention to the window. He also remembered another time when there had been a sunrise like this. It had been the morning before... everyone died. He had gone out with Itachi to look at the sunrise. He and his brother had talked for a while. They had planned to do it again the next morning. But...  
  
Sasuke shivered as the images came again. The flames, the skeletons, his brother dying, falling to the ground...  
  
Sasuke felt like vomiting. He didn't know what caused him to think of these things that he wished never to see again.  
  
"Hello..."  
  
Sasuke looked behind him.  
  
There was a girl there, with hay colored hair, big blue eyes, and a smile on her face. She was holding a basket that looked like it was filled with home baked goods. And there was...  
  
Blood. Dripping down her wrists. Sasuke's mouth opened in horror.  
  
"I've never met one who could see the dead before," she said.  
  
Sasuke screamed. He screamed like crazy. He scrambled out of the bed only to be met with...  
  
"Hello Sasuke."  
  
Sasuke screamed, his heart wrenching from his throat as the burned image of Tenten touched his face. He scrambled back against the bed, mouth open, screaming. His head felt heavy. Good, just go away! Why won't you leave me alone?!  
  
Sasuke fainted again.  
  
----------  
  
-Dream-  
  
Sasuke made his way to the docks of the Konoha River, where a boat was to pick them up and take them down the river to the town of Akio. It was the closest town to Ishiyama castle. In fact, it was only about a mile from there. They would be able to see it once they got there.  
  
"Sasuke-kun!" a high pitched voice called.  
  
Sasuke groaned as Ino run up beside him. "So, Sasuke-kun, how do you feel about this trip?"  
  
Sasuke gulped. In all honesty, not too good. He had not forgotten that his brother would be coming with, even though they would be picking him up later along the river.  
  
"Fine," he said. Ino smiled.  
  
"Of course! After all Sasuke-kun, what could harm you on this trip?"  
  
'Lots of thing' thought Sasuke bitterly.  
  
The reached the docks were some of the other genin were waiting for them. Sakura immediately went over and began yelling at Ino fro flirting with Sasuke. Sasuke rolled his eyes. AS if Sakura didn't flirt with him every day.  
  
"Sasuke-kun!" The voice that called him this time was not feminine. If Sasuke had to guess...  
  
"Lee-san," he said to the other boy. Lee grinned.  
  
"Are you excited about this trip?" he asked.  
  
Sasuke shrugged. "I guess," he said coolly.  
  
'I'm gonna die... Itachi's gonna kill me...'  
  
"Don't worry too much about that Itachi character. He promised us that he wouldn't kill you," Lee said with a smile.  
  
Sasuke choked. "You mean he's already here?!" he gasped.  
  
"He's been here since about 7:00 a.m. The boat went and picked him up first instead of last."  
  
Sasuke had to work very hard not to run away screaming. "Where is he?" he managed to choke out.  
  
"In his cabin. It's going to be a two day journey to Akio, so we have to spend the night on the ship. Come on, I'll show you your cabin. You're going to have to share, though. There's not enough room for us all," Lee grabbed Sasuke and lead him aboard the ship. Sasuke reluctantly let himself go.  
  
The lower deck of the ship was actually fairly nice. It wasn't very fancy, just wood, but it was very clean. It was obvious that this ship was well taken care of. Sasuke counted three bathrooms and eleven bedrooms, not including the captains. That meant that they would have to double up. But who was going to share a room with Itachi. Sasuke thought. There were twenty of them. That meant that two people could have his or her own bedroom. So Itachi would probably be one... And the other they would have to decide later.  
  
Sasuke got a good at one of the bedrooms. There was a top and bottom bunk, and a small end table in each one. It wasn't the most extravagant lodgings, but it would do.  
  
'The beds are comfortable, anyway' Sasuke thought as he tested one. The mattress was firm, yet soft at the same time. There was a pillow and blanket for each bed. Sasuke actually liked the way everything was set up. He just hoped he wouldn't have to bunk with a girl that night.  
  
"So, do you like it?" Lee asked as he and Sasuke walked back onto the deck.  
  
"Yeah. It's nice without being too fancy. Plain and simple, if you will," Sasuke replied.  
  
"Sasuke-kun! Where were you?" a frantic voice from the docks called out.  
  
Sasuke groaned as Sakura came running towards him. She almost threw her arms around him before deciding against it.  
  
"I was so worried! I thought that your brother might have killed you or something!" she cried. Sasuke rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'm fine, Sakura. Besides, the contract said that if Itachi hurt me, he'd lose the million dollars."  
  
'Honestly, are all girls this stupid?' he thought. 'It's not like Itachi would try anything in the middle of Konoha, anyway. I hope...'  
  
"Sakura smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," she said happily.  
  
Sasuke resisted the urge to snort.  
  
"Oi! Sasuke! Lee! Sakura! Get down here! The two gentlemen that gave us this offer need to talk to us!"  
  
The three genins got off the boat and made their way towards he others. Sasuke noted that Jiraiya and Tsunade were there now. So was Iruka. He turned his attention towards the fat man, who was about to speak.  
  
"Thank you all for coming. We thought that some of you would bail," he said with a little laugh. When no one else followed suit, he stopped.  
  
"Well, anyway, I just want to say have a good trip and if there are any problems, let us know by calling from town. Good day." And with that, he left.  
  
"All right, get on the ship! I'm not waiting for you all!" the ship captain said. Everyone followed him to the boat.  
  
"Now, I only have eleven bedrooms, so some of you are going to have to double up. Two bedrooms contain only one bed, and one of those bedrooms has already been taken by the boy that got on the ship earlier. So one other person can have a room to themselves," the ship's captain said. The shinobi looked at each other.  
  
"How do we decide who gets the one person bedroom?" asked Naruto.  
  
"We'll draw names from a hat. Ten of us will draw names and pair up with the person that they pick. One person will have a slip that's blank. That's the person who gets the one person bedroom. Sound fair?" Tsunade said. Everyone nodded.  
  
"Hey, Captain! Do you have a pencil and paper we could use?" Kakashi called to the captain. The captain nodded and pulled a notepad and pen out of his pocket, then threw them at Kakashi.  
  
"Arigatou!" Kakashi said. Then he wrote down the names of nine people and one blank strip. "Anyone got a hat?" he asked.  
  
Sakura pulled a hat out of her bag. "For the sun," she explained when everyone looked at her.  
  
Kakashi took the hat and put the names in. He shook them around a little. Then he told Naruto, Iruka, Hinata, Neji, Asuma, Tsunade, Kiba, Sakura, Chouji and Jiraiya to take a slip. The outcome was lass than pleasant.  
  
"WHAT THE FUCK?! I HAVE TO SHARE WITH SASUKE?!" Naruto screamed.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! NOT INO-PIG" Sakura yelled.  
  
"I have to share a room with LEE?!" demanded Neji.  
  
"GAI?!?!?! WHY GAI OF ALL PEOPLE?!?! WHY DOES GOD TORTURE ME SO?!?!" Asuma looked on the verge of tears.  
  
Kakashi sweatdropped. Poor, poor Asuma... "Does anyone else have any objections?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade, Chouji, Iruka, Kiba, Hinata and Jiraiya all shook their heads.  
  
"I get my own room!" Jiraiya said cheerfully.  
  
"I'm fine sharing with Kurenai," Tsunade said pleasantly.  
  
"Hinata's fine," Tenten said, giving Hinata a smile.  
  
"I don't mind sharing with Shikamaru," Chouji said happily.  
  
"As long as you don't read that awful Icha Icha Paradise book I'm fine sharing a room with you Kakashi," Iruka said. Kakashi swore under his breath.  
  
"And as for those of you who don't like your arrangements, too bad!" Kakashi laughed and went to bring his things to his cabin.  
  
----------  
  
-Hospital, Sasuke's Pov-  
  
I woke up with a throbbing headache. Stupid hallucinations... Oh who was I kidding? Those weren't hallucinations and I knew it. But till, what WERE they? Ghosts maybe? Well, that seemed like a good explanation...  
  
I sighed and turned my head to look at Naruto. He was still sleeping. But he wasn't snoring and drooling like he had done before they went on that stupid trip. Stupid castle, stupid people, stupid million dollar promise that made the offer impossible to resist.  
  
'Although,' I thought suddenly, 'Itachi HAD been I bit reluctant to go....'  
  
----------  
  
-Flashback, Normal Pov-  
  
Sasuke was leaning against the railing of the ship, looking out into the forest. It was peaceful now, although they had seen a couple of missing- nins and some Anbu earlier. None had bothered to attack, though, and a few even said hi to the captain of the ship.  
  
The Uchiha's glance was cast over to the doors that lead to the lower deck and cabins. Itachi had not come out of his room all day. The captain had brought him lunch. Sasuke knew he should be thankful for this but he couldn't help wondering what his brother was doing.  
  
"Sasuke-kun?" a tentative voice asked from behind him.  
  
"What is it, Sakura?" he said irritably. Sakura gulped.  
  
"Umm... I was wondering if, uh, you wanted to, uh... Oh, never mind," she said and quickly walked away.  
  
Sasuke gave her an odd look before returning his attention to the landscape.  
  
A few hours later, everyone but Sasuke and the captain had gone to bed. Sasuke was sitting against the railing, pondering nothing when a sound caught his attention. He turned to look at the doors leading to the lower deck. He swore.  
  
Itachi had finally come out. But Sasuke had to admit, this was not the manner he had expected to see his brother. Itachi was wearing black jeans and a navy blue t-shirt that had a picture of a skull on it. On his right wrist was a wrist band that had Happy Bunny on it. Sasuke was too far away to see what it said.  
  
He gulped when Itachi's eye's turned towards him. He shot a half hearted glare at his brother. He really wasn't in the mood to see Itachi right now. So when the older Uchiha walked over to him and sat on the railing he just about screamed.  
  
"Everyone else had gone to bed. Why are you still up?" Itachi asked.  
  
"The captain hasn't gone to bed," Sasuke pointed out through gritted teeth. He really, REALLY didn't want to be near Itachi right now....  
  
"The captain has to steer the ship, Sasuke. He can't sleep. At least, not now," Itachi said with a tone of one reminding a child something. Sasuke growled.  
  
"Shut up," he grumbled. Itachi smirked.  
  
"So why are you on this trip," Sasuke asked his older brother.  
  
Itachi frowned. "Well, one million U.S. dollars is a huge chunk of money, and it seemed like a good idea to come. Although now I'm not so sure...." He trailed off.  
  
Sasuke snorted. "What Are you afraid of something?" he teased then snickered. A quick glare from Itachi shut him up right away.  
  
"Does it really make sense that we're getting one million dollars for going to spend a month in an old castle?" Itachi questioned.  
  
"Not... really...," Sasuke answered. And it didn't make sense.  
  
"Exactly. There's obviously more to this offer than meets the eye. And I did some research on Ishiyama Castle. It doesn't sound like the world's best place," Itachi said.  
  
"So them why would they send us there?" Sasuke asked.  
  
Itachi shrugged. "I admit, I am a bit reluctant to carry through with this. However..." he stopped. Sasuke couldn't figure out why Itachi looked at him suddenly.  
  
The older Uchiha yawned. "I'm going to bed," he said and went back to the lower deck.  
  
Sasuke stared after him. He could have sworn that he had seen a look of concern for himself on Itachi's face.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
Pyro: Sorry for not updating quicker... I have changed the formatting of the other chapters to fit this chapter so... yeah...  
  
Sakura: (turning green) I feel sea sick....  
  
Pyro: And we could all care less. Besides, it brings out your eyes!  
  
Sakura: O.O (barfs and faints) 


End file.
